Privacy Policy
Plain-English version: we collect as little as we can, we don't sell your data, and you can leave any time. The details are below.
This Privacy Policy explains how Budget Plates ("we," "us") handles information when you visit our website or subscribe to our newsletter. It describes our actual practices in plain language, but it is not legal advice.
What we collect
- Information you give us. Your email address when you subscribe, and anything you include in a contact form or price correction.
- Usage information. Basic, aggregated analytics, pages viewed, rough location by country, and device type, so we know which recipes are useful.
- Cookies. Small files that keep the site working and help us measure traffic. You can turn these off in your browser.
How we use it
- To send the newsletter you asked for, and nothing else without asking.
- To reply to your messages and correct prices readers flag.
- To understand which recipes and guides to make more of.
- To keep the site secure and running.
Recipe ratings
Some recipes let you leave a 1 to 5 star rating. This is optional, needs no account, and collects no name, email, or written comment. We store the star value, the recipe, and the times you rated.
To stop one person from rating the same recipe many times, and to block spam and bots, we create a one-way, scrambled fingerprint from your IP address and browser details combined with a secret key. We do not store your raw IP address, and the fingerprint cannot be turned back into it. It is used only to prevent duplicate and abusive ratings and to enforce basic rate limits. We keep ratings for as long as the recipe is published; you can ask us to remove yours by emailing privacy@budgetplates.com.
What we don't do
We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your email with advertisers. We only pass data to the service providers who help us run the site, and only what they need to do that job. Today those are Google Analytics 4 and Ahrefs Web Analytics (site traffic measurement), EmailOctopus (newsletter delivery), Formspree (contact form), Vercel (website hosting), and a Postgres database that stores recipe ratings. Each of these collects information under its own privacy policy.
Affiliate disclosure
Some recipe pages include a short "Helpful tools for this recipe" section that links to kitchen equipment on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Budget Plates may earn from qualifying purchases. These links never change what you pay, and we only link tools that genuinely help with the recipe. We never put affiliate links on ingredients.
Your choices
- Unsubscribe from any email using the link at the bottom of it.
- Ask us what we hold about you, or to delete it, by emailing privacy@budgetplates.com.
- Block or clear cookies in your browser settings at any time.
Children
Budget Plates is meant for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect information from them.
Changes to this policy
If we update this policy, we'll change the date at the top of the page. Significant changes will be noted in the newsletter.
Contact
Questions about privacy? Email privacy@budgetplates.com or use our contact form.